WiCHacks: Best Women and Gender Hack

We love seeing women empowering other women through technology! Whether it’s for equality in the workplace, women’s health, or anything else you can think of, this prize category is for women empowering each other. Given to the team with the best hack that empowers women.

PRIZES: Fujifilm Printer and Film (MAX of four prizes)
Anker Portable Charger (MAX of four prizes)

WiCHacks: Best Newbie Hack

Is this your first time attending a hackathon or creating a hack? For all the people who came here just starting to code, we encourage you to keep building things and learning. This is just the start of a truly rewarding journey. **To be eligible for this category, at least half of the team has to be first-time hackers. We want to encourage all first-time hackers to submit their creations.

PRIZES : Airpod Pros (MAX of four prizes)

WiCHacks: Best Data Science Hack

Do you enjoy algorithms and processes? Is your favorite class math based? This category is for you! This prize is awarded to the team that creates the best hack related to data analytics or data science!

PRIZES : Philips Hue Play White Lights (MAX of four prizes)
Echo Dot 4th Gen + Clock (MAX of four prizes)

WiCHacks: Best Educational Hack

We all have all been learning for as long as we can remember, so why not make a hack about it? Awarded to the team that has the best hack that either educates others or helps others to educate (for example teachers!).
PRIZES: Audio-Technica AT2035 Podcasting Pack (MAX of four prizes)

WiCHacks: Best Mental Health Hack

Mindfulness and Mental Health are very important topics in today's world. Awarded to the team that has the best hack about mental health.
PRIZES: Kindle (MAX of four prizes)

WiCHacks: Best Gaming Hack or Best Game Hack

Bring your gaming passion to a whole new level by creating your very own! This prize is awarded to the best hack that is a game, about games, or gaming.
PRIZES: Nanoleaf Hexagon Smarter Kit (MAX of four prizes)

WiCHacks: Best UI/UX Hack

Everyone loves a beautiful user interface! The winner of this category will have the best user interface.
PRIZES: Nintendo Switch Lite (MAX of four prizes)

Brite: Best Security Hack

This hack will be awarded to the best security-related hack. Whether you make a project about security or use technologies commonly used in cyber security, you can win this category!
PRIZES: 4 Rtic Cooler backpacks (MAX of four prizes)

L3Harris: Best Work from Home Hack

In today's world, so many people globally work from home! The winner of this category will make the best hack related to working from home.
PRIZES: Blanket + Door Dash GiftCard (MAX of four prizes)

Foundry Digital: Best Decentralization Hack

PRIZES: $1500 VISA Gift Card (MAX of four prizes)

CloudBlue: Innovator of the Year Hack (2)

This is an award for a venture that is outstanding in its approach to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues. It makes a positive contribution to the wellbeing of society, and capable of scaling up nationally and internationally
PRIZES: Argmao Bluetooth 5.2 True Wireless Earbuds + $75 dollar Amazon gift card

STR: Best Failure to Launch Hack

Have a great hack but it's not necessarily 100% working or completed? That is okay! Even if your hack is not fully complete, submit to this category and the best will win this prize!
PRIZES: 4 Bash Bunnies from Hak5 (MAX of four prizes)

VisualDX: Best use of VisualDx medical informatics API

The winner of this category will have utilized the VisualDX medical informatics API in the best way.
PRIZES: $50 Amazon Cards (MAX of four prizes)

M&T Tech: Best Community Hack

Community hacks are centered around the wellbeing of our community, whether that’s on campus, the city of Rochester, or the global community. This can mean increasing equity and inclusion, protecting and preserving our environment, encouraging community service, and much more. Projects that aim to strengthen and sustain our communities contribute to this hack.

The presentation must address the following questions:

• Clearly describe your idea. What problem are you trying to solve/how will it add value? Who are your users?

• Explain your technical stack. What languages/tools/technologies did you use, and why?

• Where will you take it next?

• Any other notable features/results/takeaways?

PRIZES: Nintendo Switch (MAX of four prizes)

Constellation Brands: Most Exciting Product Launch

Invent a fictional beverage product you would like to see on store shelves. Create a digital experience using web, mobile, or augmented reality (AR), web3 or metaverse technologies that would get you excited to try that beverage. The experience could be as simple as a website with great product photography or as advanced as an interactive metaverse experience triggered by the product in the physical world. Think about the story your experience tells and how you can make an emotional connection with your audience. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

PRIZES: Large size, metal, Corona coolers full to the brim with Constellation Brands + Corona, Modelo & Pacifico branded swag(hats,hoodies,tshirts, backpacks, duffle bags (MAX of four Prizes)

Wegmans: Best Food Safety Hack (2)

In 2011, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was passed. This represents the first major overhaul of food safety law in the United States since the passing of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938. In November 2022, the Proposed Rule for Food Traceability (Section 204), which aims to improve traceability of food and ingredients from farm to table.
The objective is to get as close as possible to complete traceability.
Food processors and manufacturers need to quickly identify where contaminated food is in the food supply and take appropriate action.
In 2008-2009, 714 persons were infected with Salmonella Typhimurium. It took several weeks to determine the cause of the outbreak, which ultimately was determined to be peanut butter. Out of caution, 3,913 different products made by 361 companies were recalled that contained peanut butter. Although some peanut butters were assured to be safe, the FDA advised consumers to not eat any peanut butter. Improved traceability would reduce the amount of recalled product and remove it from the food system more efficiently.
Food moves through many processes including: growing (peanuts on the farm), receiving (peanuts shipped to a manufacturer), creating (making peanut butter), transforming (repacking peanut butter with a different brand), and shipping.
Even if a product has a clear identifier such as a lot code, challenges exist when product is shipped in a case from a food processor, to a third party warehouse, to a private warehouse, into a store, and gets sold to a customer. One such
challenge would be knowing when the product in question was sold, and who purchased it.

JUDGING CRITEREA
Quality of Idea
Is the idea a strong minimal viable product for someone to use today? (Coolness Factor)
Implementation
How well the idea was designed and implemented by the Team, as well as the complexity of the build and
creative use of data. (Realistic Capability)
Potential Impact
The quality of the submission and presentation. Participants’ should be able to drive and improve business
processes based on the challenge provided. (Business Value)
Value to the Persona
Measured on whether the Application solves for the customer scenario and requirements outlined in the
scenario proposal
Complexity
Includes the practicability and ease of implementation in a customer environment. (Level of Innovation)

PRIZES:$250 Wegmans gift card (MAX of four prizes)

[MLH] Best Domain Name from Domain.com

Register a .tech domain name using Domain.com during the weekend. Each team may submit one entry per person on the team. Each winning team member will receive a PowerSquare Qi wireless phone charger.

[MLH] Best Use of Google Cloud

Build your hackathon project with a suite of secure storage, powerful compute, and integrated data analytics products provided by Google Cloud. See full list of products here: g.co/cloud. Each winning team member located in the US will receive a Google Cloud Swag Bag complete with a beanie, pillow, journal, socks and lanyards. International winners will receive a Google branded backpack.

[MLH] Best Hardware Hack Sponsored by Digi-Key

Using your preferred hardware or hardware emulator, build a hack for your chance to win a Grove Beginner Kit, with embedded Arduino Uno compatible board. Each winning team member will receive a prize!

[MLH] Most Creative Use of Twilio

Twilio allows you to incorporate mobile messaging, phone calls and a ton of other awesome communication features right into your hackathon project using web service APIs. Are you building an e-commerce website and want to send text notifications or email confirmations once an order is completed? Or maybe your application needs to verify users based on their mobile numbers? Twilio makes all this possible and more. Build a hack that simplifies your life using any one of Twilio’s APIs for a chance to win a Twilio Swag Box and GameGo Console for you and each of your teammates!

[MLH] Dream Big and Create More Cheers with AB InBev

AB InBev is all about bringing people together and creating more cheers for a better world! Using whatever tools, hardware and/or software at your disposal, build a hack that leads us into a brighter future for a chance to win some amazing prizes for you and your team.

Remember, AB inBev is looking for innovative projects that can possibly change the world in a positive way! We can't wait to see what you come up with.

[MLH] Best Use of DeSo

DeSo is the official Web3 sponsor of the MLH Hackathon League and the first Layer 1 blockchain custom-built for decentralized social media applications. While blockchains like Avalanche or Solana cost $0.50+ to store just a 200-character post, the DeSo blockchain is built with custom indexing and storage optimizations which make it 10,000X cheaper to store social content on-chain! In order to qualify for the contest, you must launch an app that writes to the DeSo blockchain and/or implements DeSo identity. While social media apps are a great fit for DeSo, you can also build financial apps, marketplaces, and more on the DeSo blockchain. For inspiration on project ideas, you can check out some of the existing 200+ apps already live on DeSo at Bithunt.com as well as our DeSo APIs. The Best Use of DeSo gets $100 worth of $DESO coin & an exclusive DeSo branded tumbler!

[MLH] Most Creative Use of GitHub

GitHub is one of the best ways to collaborate, push code, get feedback, and show the world what you’ve built during a hackathon. To take it a step further, GitHub is now offering you access to industry tools, events & learning resources through something called GitHub Global Campus. Win this weekend’s Best Use of GitHub prize category, first by signing up for GitHub Global Campus and second by using a GitHub repository to host your hackathon project’s code! Make sure your use of GitHub stands out with a detailed ReadMe page, meaningful pull requests and collaboration history, and even a GitHub pages deployment!

[Wayfair] Best Customer Focus Hack

In today's world the biggest competitive advantage a product can have is an amazing “Customer Experience” which is a key result of being “Customer focused”. Build any hack, use the power of innovation and technology to push the envelope and question the status quo. But be sure to showcase “why” you are motivated to build this unique experience for your customers, “what” you did to achieve it and “how” does it help.
PRIZE: $50 Wayfair gift cards